Shipping in the Persian Gulf dipped sharply Wednesday as tensions with Iran intensified amid signs the U.S. was positioning military forces for a potential strike, according to maritime intelligence assessments.

The U.S. Navy’s USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group entered the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility Monday, a U.S. official confirmed to Fox News Digital, as President Donald Trump continued to keep military options on the table.

‘At this stage, it remains ambiguous, and probably intentionally ambiguous, what the objectives and desired outcomes are of any U.S. military action,’ Ambrey Intelligence’s Robert Peters told Fox News Digital.

‘This means that there are a wider range of possibilities and retaliatory scenarios under consideration.

‘That said, there are five U.S.-flagged merchant vessels, tankers and cargo ships in the Gulf today — two transited the Strait of Hormuz earlier without any apparent issues — but those already in the Gulf and destined for the U.S. are at heightened risk,’ he added.

Trump, who earlier this week indicated ‘numerous’ calls were received from Iran, also posted about the situation on Truth Social Wednesday morning.

‘A massive Armada is heading to Iran. It is moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose. It is a larger fleet, headed by the great Aircraft Carrier Abraham Lincoln, than that sent to Venezuela,’ he wrote.

‘Like with Venezuela, it is ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary. Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal — NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS — one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence! As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL!’

The post came as the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported the death toll from nationwide protests in Iran has surpassed 6,200 since the outset Dec. 28. 

The organization said nearly 17,100 more were under investigation with ‘a continuation of both scattered and mass arrests’ as internet restrictions continue.

Peters meanwhile, claimed that ‘shipping companies have been advised to reduce aggregate risk when operating in the Arabian/Persian Gulf.

‘This means limiting the number of ships that could be exposed to retaliatory action, and sometimes ships will await further instructions closer to their next port in the Gulf,’ he said. ‘At this point, it is more appropriate to wait further away in case of an escalation.’

Ali Shamkhani, an advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, warned Wednesday that any military action by the U.S. from any origin and at any level ‘will be regarded as the start of a war, and the response will be immediate, all-out, and unprecedented, targeting the heart of Tel Aviv and all those who support the aggressor,’ according to Iran International.

‘Our brave Armed Forces are prepared — with their fingers on the trigger — to immediately and powerfully respond to ANY aggression against our beloved land, air, and sea,’ Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X.

With tensions rising in the region, Peters described how shipowners may be approached by cargo charterers to load cargo in the Gulf.

‘Then they will make the decision to avoid the Gulf for the time being until the tensions reduce,’ Peters added. ‘Interestingly, last year the Iranians did not take retaliatory action in the maritime sphere. Israeli shipping was already avoiding the Gulf, and the U.S. military action was highly targeted at the nuclear capabilities.’

But Peters warned that the situation ‘may see something similar again. If there is a much broader, regime-destabilizing operation, the effects could be considerable for wider shipping.

‘During periods like this, we tend to see greater risk aversion and inquiries from those asked to pick up cargo for U.S. charterers and destined for the U.S.,’ he added.

Shipping in the Persian Gulf dipped sharply Wednesday as tensions with Iran intensified amid signs the U.S. was positioning military forces for a potential strike, according to maritime intelligence assessments.

The U.S. Navy’s USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group entered the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility Monday, a U.S. official confirmed to Fox News Digital, as President Donald Trump continued to keep military options on the table.

‘At this stage, it remains ambiguous, and probably intentionally ambiguous, what the objectives and desired outcomes are of any U.S. military action,’ Ambrey Intelligence’s Robert Peters told Fox News Digital.

‘This means that there are a wider range of possibilities and retaliatory scenarios under consideration,’ he added.

‘That said, there are five U.S.-flagged merchant vessels, tankers and cargo ships, in the Gulf today — two transited the Strait of Hormuz earlier without any apparent issues — but those already in the Gulf and destined for the U.S. are at heightened risk,’ he added.

Trump, who earlier this week indicated ‘numerous’ calls were received from Iran, also posted about the situation on Truth Social Wednesday morning.

‘A massive Armada is heading to Iran. It is moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose. It is a larger fleet, headed by the great Aircraft Carrier Abraham Lincoln, than that sent to Venezuela,’ he wrote.

‘Like with Venezuela, it is ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary. Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal — NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS — one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence! As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL!’

The post came as the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported the death toll from nationwide protests in Iran has surpassed 6,200 since the outset on Dec. 28. 

The organization said nearly 17,100 more were under investigation, with ‘a continuation of both scattered and mass arrests,’ as internet restrictions continue.

Peters meanwhile, claimed that ‘shipping companies have been advised to reduce aggregate risk when operating in the Arabian/Persian Gulf.

‘This means limiting the number of ships that could be exposed to retaliatory action, and sometimes ships will await further instructions closer to their next port in the Gulf,’ he said. ‘At this point, it is more appropriate to wait further away, in case of an escalation.’

Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, warned Wednesday that any military action by the U.S., from any origin and at any level, ‘will be regarded as the start of a war, and the response will be immediate, all-out, and unprecedented, targeting the heart of Tel Aviv and all those who support the aggressor,’ according to Iran International.

‘Our brave Armed Forces are prepared — with their fingers on the trigger — to immediately and powerfully respond to ANY aggression against our beloved land, air, and sea,’ Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X.

With tensions rising in the region, Peters described how shipowners may be being approached by cargo charterers to load cargo in the Gulf.

‘Then they will make the decision to avoid the Gulf for the time being until the tensions reduce,’ Peters added. ‘Interestingly, last year the Iranians did not take retaliatory action in the maritime sphere: Israeli shipping was already avoiding the Gulf, and the U.S. military action was highly targeted at the nuclear capabilities.’

But Peters warned that the situation ‘may see something similar again. If there is a much broader, regime-destabilizing operation, the effects could be considerable for wider shipping.’

‘During periods like this, we tend to see greater risk aversion and inquiries from those asked to pick up cargo for U.S. charterers and destined for the U.S.,’ he added.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned Wednesday that a Supreme Court showdown over sitting Fed governor Lisa Cook could have far-reaching consequences for the central bank’s independence and the U.S. economy.

‘I would say that that case is perhaps the most important legal case in the Fed’s 113-year history. As I thought about it, it might have been hard to explain why I didn’t attend,’ Powell told reporters Wednesday at the Federal Reserve.

‘Paul Volcker famously attended a Supreme Court case in, I guess, 1985 or so, so there is precedent,’ Powell said, referring to the former Federal Reserve chair who served under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

Last week, the nation’s highest court heard oral arguments for two hours on whether President Donald Trump has the authority to remove Cook from the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors. The court is expected to issue a ruling in the case by summer.

Cook’s legal fight traces back to late August, when Trump said he was firing her from the board.

He alleged she misrepresented information related to a trio of mortgages she obtained before joining the central bank. Cook has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime.

She sued Trump in federal court in Washington, D.C., to block her removal. On Sept. 9, a district court judge barred Trump from firing her while the case proceeds, a decision later upheld by a federal appeals court.

Her ascent to the Federal Reserve was historic from the start. Appointed by former President Joe Biden in 2022, she became the first Black woman to serve as a Fed board governor, the seven-member panel that sets national interest rates and oversees the banking system.

Now, she stands at the center of an even more consequential moment, as Trump seeks to fire her — a step that would be unprecedented in the Fed’s history.

What’s more, Powell’s long-standing insistence on finishing his term, which ends in May, now comes amid a Justice Department criminal investigation into his congressional testimony on the Federal Reserve’s headquarters renovation.

Powell confirmed the investigation and said he respected the rule of law and congressional oversight, but described the action as ‘unprecedented’ and driven by political pressure.

Asked by reporters at the Federal Reserve for further comment, Powell declined to discuss the Justice Department investigation, pointing instead to remarks he made in a video statement on Jan. 11.

His decision to address the issue so publicly, after days of private consultations with advisors, marked a sharp departure from the central banker’s typically measured approach.

What comes next remains unclear, as the Federal Reserve navigates largely uncharted territory.

The White House invited rank-and-file Senate Democrats to discuss government funding options, but they declined, instead opting to unveil a list of demands to rein in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in exchange for their votes to avert a shutdown. 

‘The White House hopes to avoid another debilitating government shutdown, and invited Democrats for a listening session to better understand their position,’ a senior White House official told Fox News Digital in a statement. ‘It’s unfortunate their leadership blocked the meeting.’

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats unveiled their laundry list of demands to rein in the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) immigration operations in exchange for their support to keep the government open. 

Democrats in the upper chamber have been quietly formulating a list of legislative demands to bring Republicans to corral DHS and ICE after another deadly shooting in Minnesota over the weekend. 

That incident, where Alex Pretti was fatally shot during an immigration operation in Minneapolis, spurred Democrats to reject the forthcoming six-bill funding package teed up for a key test vote on Thursday. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., laid out three requirements for Democrats as the upper chamber hurtles toward a Friday deadline to fund the government. He noted that his entire caucus was unified on the ‘set of common sense and necessary policy goals that we need to rein in ICE and end the violence.’

Schumer’s first demand was an end to roving patrols, tightening the rules governing the use of warrants, and requiring that ICE coordinate with state and local law enforcement. 

Second on the list was a uniform code of conduct and accountability for federal agents, akin to the same standards applied to state and local law enforcement. Schumer contended that when those policies are broken, there should be independent investigations. 

And third, Democrats want ‘masks off, body cameras on,’ and for federal agents to carry proper identification.

‘These are common sense reforms, ones that Americans know and expect from law enforcement,’ Schumer said. ‘If Republicans refuse to support them, they are choosing chaos over order, plain and simple. They are choosing to protect Ice from accountability over American lives.’

Over the last few days, Senate Republicans have signaled their willingness to negotiate reforms to the agency beyond those baked into the existing DHS funding bill, but they have added the caveat that Senate Democrats have to actually produce a list, first. 

And Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has made clear that Republicans would plow ahead with the current six-bill funding package, which among other bills includes funding for the Pentagon, for Thursday’s vote. However, he hasn’t entirely closed the door on stripping the DHS bill as Democrats have called for.

Though conversations are ongoing at the rank-and-file level across the aisle, Thune said that Schumer and Senate Democrats should bring their asks to the White House and President Donald Trump.  

‘If there’s a way that the Democrats have things that they want the White House could accommodate, short of having to modify the bill, that would be, I think the best way to do what we need to do here, and that is to make sure the government gets funded,’ Thune said. 

Plus, if the DHS bill were stripped from the broader package and advanced through the Senate as Schumer has promised Democrats would do, it would still need to return to the House. Lawmakers in the lower chamber are still on their week-long recess and aren’t slated to return until next week.

There is a possibility that Democrats’ demands could also be split into a separate bill, similar to what Republicans offered during the previous shutdown when Schumer and company demanded a clean, three-year extension to the expiring Obamacare subsidies. 

When asked if he would be amenable to that option, Schumer charged that the ‘White House has had no specific, good, concrete ideas.’

‘In terms of what we want, there’s two simple things to do to get this done, and we want to get it done, and we want to get it done quickly,’ Schumer said. ‘Number one, Leader Thune has to separate the Homeland Security bill out from the other five. He can simply put an amendment on the floor to do that.’ 

‘So it’s simple to do, and I am quite confident it would pass overwhelmingly,’ he continued. ‘Already I’ve seen 6 or 7 Republicans say they would vote for it. So that’s what we should do. And then we should sit down and go and come up with strong proposals to reform ICE and rein in ICE and end the violence.’ 

The U.S. will ‘very quickly’ reopen its embassy in Venezuela and establish a diplomatic presence on the ground, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

‘We have a team on the ground there assessing it, and we think very quickly we’ll be able to open a U.S. diplomatic presence on the ground,’ Rubio told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday. 

The goal, he said, would be not just to interact with officials on the ground but also ‘civil society and the opposition.’

Such a move would mean restoring diplomatic relations with Venezuela, which were broken off in 2019 when the U.S. embassy’s doors shuttered.

The Trump administration has been in dialogue with Delcy Rodríguez, Nicolás Maduro’s former vice president whom U.S. officials describe as an interim leader, since the capture of the wanted Venezuelan dictator.

Reopening the embassy would require the U.S. to acknowledge a governing authority in Caracas, Venezuela, capable of receiving diplomats — a step that would mark a clear shift from Washington’s long-standing refusal to engage Venezuela’s executive. 

The current Venezuelan leadership has ‘been very cooperative on that front,’ Rubio said. ‘Obviously there’s been some hard asks along the way.’

Rubio said the administration is not seeking further military action in Venezuela but stressed that force has not been taken off the table. 

‘The president never rules out his options as commander in chief to protect the national interest of the United States,’ Rubio told lawmakers, while emphasizing that the U.S. is ‘not postured to, nor do we intend or expect to have to take any military action in Venezuela at any time.’

Rubio also offered details about the first $500 million of the U.S.-brokered sale of Venezuelan oil, saying $300 million went back to Venezuela to pay for public services, while $200 million remains in a U.S.-run account.

He declined to share details on how long Rodríguez would remain in power, but said a diplomatic presence would help keep a check on the new government. 

‘I can’t give you a timeline of how long it takes. It can’t take forever,’ Rubio said. ‘But it’s not even been four weeks.’

His comments come amid mixed signals from Venezuela’s interim leadership. In recent days, Rodríguez has struck a defiant tone toward Washington, declaring she had ‘enough’ of U.S. influence in Venezuelan politics during a speech to oil workers broadcast on state television.

The remarks appeared aimed largely at a domestic audience, even as Venezuela remains constrained by U.S. sanctions and dependent on American decisions over oil licenses and revenue controls.

Rubio said the administration’s goal is to push Venezuela toward a democratic transition, describing the Maduro regime as ‘a base of operation for virtually every competitor, adversary and enemy in the world.’ 

He said the U.S. is aiming for a ‘friendly, stable, prosperous Venezuela and democratic… with free and fair elections,’ while acknowledging the process will take time.

Pressed on corruption concerns, Rubio said an audit mechanism is being established. 

‘The audit will be on,’ he told senators, stressing that spending would be restricted to approved public needs.

The U.S. Capitol Police told Fox News Digital one person was arrested for disrupting Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill. 

The individual was escorted from the hearing room at the Dirksen Senate Office Building as Rubio was about to deliver his opening statement about U.S. policy towards Venezuela.  

‘All right, here we go … you know the drill, off to jail,’ Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said after a man in the audience got up and started yelling about a ‘war crime’ while holding a sign that said ‘Hands Off Venezuela.’ 

‘That’s a one-year ban from the committee. Anyone who is a persistent violator will be banned for three years. So, I don’t know whether the guy falls in that category, looks like it,’ added Risch, who is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. ‘I hope after three years he’ll find a more productive means of employment.’

‘Secretary Rubio, we have two hearings a week. You know, you seem to have a more robust following than most of our witnesses that come before us,’ Risch added. 

‘There’ll be a couple more. Thank you for stopping the clock, but I appreciate it,’ Rubio responded. 

The U.S. Capitol Police said the individual was arrested for demonstrating in a committee.  

‘It is against the law to protest inside the congressional buildings,’ the U.S. Capitol Police told Fox News Digital.

Prior to the outburst, Risch thanked the audience for their attendance but also warned, ‘This is a public hearing. It is also the official business of the United States of America. And as a result of that, the committee has a zero-tolerance policy for interruptions or for attempts by anyone in the room to communicate with somebody up here or the witness.

‘So, as a result of that, if you do disrupt, you will be arrested. You’ll be banned for a year,’ he continued. ‘However, I’m told that we have some guests today who have completed their ban and are back with us again today. We hope you’ve had the time to think about your indiscretions and will behave yourself today. If you don’t, as a persistent violator, you’ll be banned for three years this time.’